Launched in April by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) the Trading Companies from Brazil program was designed to facilitate and increase the foreign market share of small and medium businesses.
The initiative already counts on 516 exporting and trading companies. The Apex is creating a register, and the goal is to include 1,000 companies by the end of the year.
"This register was a great step forward after the project was launched. It has become an effective tool that makes the search for a trading company easier," said the Apex Commercial Promotion manager, Maurício Manfré.
According to him, the register goes both ways, because it can be consulted, on the project's portal, by foreign companies interested in importing from Brazil, as well as by small and medium Brazilian companies that want to enter the foreign market and are seeking a trading company to help them.
In order to be listed in the register, the companies must have a minimum two years experience in the foreign market, and export at least US$ 40,000 per year. Research on trading companies in the register, which is available in three languages – Portuguese, English and Spanish – can be done by trade name, product, country of destination or country of origin. "The aim is to make the search easier," added Manfré.
According to him, the project has three sides. The first one is the social side, of making it easier for micro and small businesses to enter the foreign market with the intermediation of trading companies and thus generate new jobs.
The second one is the sectoral side, of bringing sector organizations closer to the trading companies, one example of which took place last Wednesday, July 22, in the city of São Paulo, as 18 sectoral associations and 35 trading companies met to introduce themselves.
"This creates opportunities for creating more specialized exporter companies," said Manfré, who participated in the event. Lastly, there is the political aspect, which is being jointly developed with the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), entrusted with collecting sectoral data that will help solve bottlenecks and logistical issues.
Manfré also said that the project is being well promoted in the media, collaborating for companies to gather information and register with the program. According to him, the 500 companies already enrolled have exported approximately US$ 3 billion.
"Currently in Brazil, exports by trading companies represent 10% of foreign sales," he said, underscoring that revenues by trading companies and exporter companies total US$ 20.7 billion.
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Site: www.tradingsdobrasil.com.br
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